Thread: Fox to Americans: Don't forget your immigrant roots

http://today.reuters.com

Fox to Americans: Don't forget your immigrant roots
Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:56 PM ET



By Alistair Bell

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Angered by a bill in the U.S. Congress aimed at cracking down on undocumented workers, Mexican President Vicente Fox urged Americans on Sunday not to forget that many of their ancestors emigrated to the United States.

The legislation, which foresees building a high-tech fence on parts of the U.S.-Mexican border to stop illegal immigrants, neared passage in the U.S. House of Representatives last week.

The legislation, which has divided Republicans, would also make it harder for U.S. employers to hire illegal aliens and make it a felony to live in the United States illegally.

"It's a very bad sign, which does not speak well of a country that is proud of being democratic, proud of being a country of immigrants," Fox said in a speech to relatives of Mexican migrants.

Most Mexicans know someone who has emigrated to the United States and their welfare is a key issue for Mexican governments.

Fox, speaking in his home state of Guanajuato, said Americans need to remember they were descended from immigrants.

"The vast majority of the population of the United States, when we look at their roots, are immigrants who have arrived from all over the world and who have constructed that great nation. That's why they can't deny who they are," Fox said.

Mexican workers in the United States sent home a record $20 billion to relatives and friends this year.

Last week, Fox described the proposal to put up security fences with lighting and cameras on the border as disgraceful, and Mexican officials have likened it to the construction of the Berlin Wall.

"Walls belong in the last century. They were knocked down by people in the search of liberty and democracy," Fox said on Sunday.

Almost 1.2 million people were arrested crossing the border this year, most of them Mexicans and Central Americans in search of a better lifestyle in the United States.

There are roughly 11 million undocumented aliens living and working in the United States.

Mexico supports a guest worker program proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush that might form part of immigration reform being considered by Congress.

The program would offer illegal immigrants the chance to register and work -- mostly at low-skilled jobs Americans don't want -- for up to six years. They then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.

Hey Vicente....Yak Yak Yakity Yak....no one is listening to you here. You have absolutely nothing to do with our politics or our immigration law.

So kiss your $20 Billion a year good bye!

Because the "gig" is up....one way or another.

Vicente, I bet there's a big wall surrounding where YOU live. You have to protect all those shoes in your wife's closet.

Why don't you turn your attention to making your own country into something great instead of trying to tear down another country in order to receive your 20 billion dollars illegally from us?

Nobody is listening, Vicente.

VF said to Americans : "Don't forget your immigrant roots."

The American people say to VF: "Don't forget our country is our business, not yours."

Shut up, Vicente Fox.

GOOD ONE, LegalUSCitizen!!

Yeah, VF--SHUT UP!!

mr foxy go back to spain -- I have news for him - most americans dont even know who he is-----